A STARTLING SURPRISE
"Hello! Is it safe to come out; and is the coast clear of ghosts?"
That was Billy addressing Hugh on the following morning, the scout
master, as well as Alec Sands and Arthur Cameron, being up and around.
They looked at Billy poking his head out from amidst the folds of
his capacious red-and-black striped blanket, and laughed, for somehow
he reminded them of a cautious old tortoise trying to spy out the
land before entrusting his flippers beyond the confines of his shell.
"Nothing doing in the ghost line, Billy," Hugh told him, "so you can
stretch yourself as much as you please. Hurry up a little! Alec here
was just suggesting that as the morning looks so fine we might as well
go outside and build a cooking fire under the trees for a change"
Billy thereupon threw the blanket aside and hopped to his feet.
"When you say anything about _eating_," he observed as he started to
finish his dressing with feverish haste, "seems like my whole system
responds. Alec, I want to tell you the idea isn't half bad either.
Dining in this musty old room seems too much as if we were still at
home, you know. Nothing like being under the trees when you're taking
an outing. I haven't got any gypsy blood in me that I know of, but I
do like the big outdoors a heap, better than anything else
going---that is, except eating."
Monkey Stallings was by this time also awake and fixing himself to defy
the chilly morning atmosphere.
They abandoned the castle, taking their belongings with them. At the
time it was looked upon only as a little incident, and no one dreamed
that afterwards they would find themselves very thankful for having
done this very thing.
Back of the building the trees grew thickly, and it did not take the
scouts long to discover a very good location for a temporary camp,
where they could build a fire and cook breakfast.
"Another thing," said Alec, "if the weather holds good I'm going to
suggest that we hunt a place back there, half a mile, perhaps, away
from the castle, to spend the night in. Like Billy here, I don't
fancy sleeping under a roof when I can have a chance to camp out under
the stars and hear the whispering of the trees."
The others were quick to seize upon the idea.
"It's our only chance to sleep out," said the Stallings boy, "because
we've got to make tracks to-morrow afternoon, you remember."
"I should say that Alec ought to be able to take all the pictures he
needs of this old rookery this morning," remarked Arthur. "As for me,
I've seen all I want of the place. It makes me feel sad, because I
can't help thinking of what happened up here so long ago. It was a
crazy man's scheme to start with, and then there was the terrible
tragedy that happened later on. Ugh! let's climb out right now."
So they built a nice cooking fire, and started to get breakfast. It
was while they discussed the morning meal with the eagerness that
boys' healthy appetites alone can display, that Billy asked a leading
question.
"I forgot to ask if anybody heard a ghost laugh in the night?" he
demanded. "Once I happened to wake up, and imagined I could hear
somebody laughing away off in the distance; but say, I only pulled
my head further under my blanket, and went to sleep again just like
an innocent little babe. How about that, Hugh, Alec, and the rest?
Was there anything doing?"
This was the time for Alec to tell about the little adventure Hugh
had met with. Billy's eyes grew round with wonder and awe as the
story proceeded, and seeing this, Alec did his best to keep up the
interest at fever heat to the point where Hugh burst into the haunted
turret chamber, and made the discovery that it was tenanted by a family
of owls, and some bats.
"Gee whiz!" ejaculated Billy, heaving a great sigh of relief, "I
honestly began to believe you meant to tell us that turret-tower room
was the place where the tragedy happened, and that Hugh had watched
it all being repeated over again. Owls, hey? Well, they're an innocent
lot when you get acquainted with 'em. All the same, let me tell you
I'm glad we expect to sleep outdoors to-night."
"When we get through breakfast, boys," suggested Arthur, greatly
interested in what he had just heard, "let's all go up and be
introduced to Hugh's pets, if they haven't vamoosed the ranch. I
always did like to watch owls stare at you with their big yellow eyes;
but you want to keep away, for they've got wicked beaks, and can take
a piece of skin off your hand as easy as anything."
Accordingly this programme was carried out. The visit to the turret
chamber was not as productive of results as some of the boys might
have wished, for most of the owls and bats went scurrying forth through
the slits in the wall as soon as the door was opened, despite the
garish light of day which they were supposed to dislike. Still, enough
were seen to satisfy Billy the story had been no "fake."
Alec said he was disappointed because he could not take a picture of
the whole outfit; though not necessarily for the benefit of his rich
aunt.
"But the sun seems just about right for the several exposures I want
to make of the southeastern side of the castle," he told them, "so
let's climb down out of this and get busy."
"I'll tell you what I think," ventured Billy as they were making for
outdoors once more. "Like as not that same family of owls has been
responsible for a lot of that silly talk about this place being haunted.
People imagine all sorts of things, you know, when they don't understand
queer sounds."
"Yes," retorted Alec, with a chuckle, "that's so, they do, Billy; and
I've known them to pull their heads under blankets. It's all very
well for you to talk so bravely when the sun's shining overhead; but
everybody knows how different things look and seem at midnight. We'll
forgive you this time, Billy, because the rest of us, all but Hugh
perhaps, were in something of the same boat, I'm afraid."
The photographic work went on apace, and as Alec had in times past
proven his abilities in this line, he was apparently justified in
believing that success was going to crown his present efforts.
"I tell you Aunt Susan will be tickled half to death when she gets
prints of these pictures," he remarked again and again as he worked,
never missing a single object that he considered would lend additional
enchantment to the views. "I ought to consider myself mighty lucky
to be presented with such a dandy camera as this. I've made sure
to fetch my daylight developing tank along with me, because if any
of the exposures turn out to be poor ones I'll have another chance
to duplicate the same tomorrow morning, even if it is Sunday."
"So far," observed Monkey Stallings, with a chuckle of satisfaction,
"there isn't any sign of those two hoboes turning up here again---which
pleases me a heap, let me tell you."
"Oh! no danger of them coming back again," Billy assured him. "They
got the scare of their lives when you tooted that goose-call. Long
before now that brace of tramps has struck the railroad ties, and are
making tracks for other regions where they don't have old castles
haunted by spooks."
The last picture was finally taken. Alec seemed satisfied with what he
had done.
"I've got two rolls of film left," he explained, "which I'm going to
hold for an emergency. You never know what may happen when you're
taking pictures. Something is apt to come along that you would give a
heap to get, and if you're out of films you feel like kicking yourself."
"You've got a long head on your shoulders, Alec," commented Arthur.
"I guess you must believe in the old saying that 'an ounce of prevention
is better than a pound of cure.'"
"Also," added Billy drily, "that in times of plenty it's wise to lay
in a stock against the dry spell that's coming. I've been there myself,
and ought to know what it means to go hungry just because you've been
careless. That's one reason I always try to put in a spoonful of
coffee for every fellow, and then add one for the pot."
That was always the way with Billy; he seemed to view almost every
subject as inevitably connected with the one absorbing idea of supply
and demand. By this time these good chums of his knew his weakness
so well that they generally let such allusions pass unnoticed.
"How would it do for us to root around a bit while we have the time?"
ventured Monkey Stallings, who liked to investigate better than anything
else, except in an old mansion where the dust of years had settled, and
there were uncanny things to be run across.
"If you mean," Hugh told him, "we might move around some, and look for
that place where we want to make our camp for the rest of our stay up
here, I'd say it was a good idea."
"Of course," supplemented Arthur, "we could move back to the castle
late this afternoon if the weather turned out bad, and a storm
threatened, which, according to all the known signs, isn't going to be
the case."
"Glad to hear you say that, old weather bureau prophet," laughed Alec;
for the scout who had just made that bold assertion had long been
looked up to as an authority on the subject of changes of the weather,
and could reel off a dozen reasons for the prediction he was making,
all founded on a good sensible basis.
Accordingly they all started forth, having deposited most of their
belongings in a good hiding-place where they would be perfectly safe.
Since there had been no attempt to clean up the grounds surrounding
the wonderful "castle" after its abandonment, Some ten years or so
before, of necessity they had gone back to their original, wild condition.
Nature always seeks to hide the cruel gashes made by the hands of
man, covering the wound with all manner of growth from trailing vines
to young saplings, brush and weeds.
Passing through a dense wilderness of this newer growth, the scouts
pushed on into the heavier woods. Here they found things much more to
their way of looking at it. Indeed, with the stately forest trees
rising up all around them, and shutting out that queer building on the
point of land overlooking the broad valley beyond, it seemed an ideal
spot for making a camp.
They were not long in deciding on where they would stay, and two of
the fellows, Alec and Monkey Stallings, were dispatched back to carry
their personal belongings to the new site. Alec was anxious to get
to work developing some of the rolls of films he had taken, in the
expectation of making good any failures.
By ten o'clock everything had been gathered in the new camp, which was
situated not much more than a quarter of a mile away from the deserted
mansion. The boys believed they could already call their mission a
success; and after Alec had been heard from in connection with his
photographic work, this would be set down as a certainty.
"Listen!" called out Monkey Stallings about this time, for he happened
to have remarkable hearing. "Seemed to me that was some one talking
over yonder."
"Mebbe the tramps have come back after all," exclaimed Billy looking
startled. "You know they always say a bad penny is sure to turn up
again."
"Better look for some good handy clubs, I say," observed Alec, pouncing
on just such a stout stick as he had in his mind's eye when speaking.
"Whoever it is coming," remarked Hugh, uneasily, "we'll soon know the
worst, for I can see them through the bushes there. They know we're
here in the bargain, because they're making straight for this place."
The scout master had hardly finished saying this when two men dressed
in gray uniforms and carrying guns suddenly stepped out of the bushes,
one calling aloud:
"Hold up your hands there, every one of you, and don't try to run, or
it will be the worse for you. We've tracked you up here, and you're
under arrest. Steady now!"